1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for penetrating body tissue during minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an access assembly having a transparent window for providing visual observation during penetration of the peritoneum or other body tissue.
2. Background of the Related Art
Minimally invasive surgical procedures including endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures permit surgery to be performed on organs, tissue and vessels far removed from an opening within the tissue. Laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures are performed in the interior of the abdomen through a small incision such as, for example, a narrow endoscopic tube or cannula inserted through a small entrance incision in the skin. Typically, after the abdominal cavity is insufflated, a trocar is used to puncture the cavity wall, i.e., the peritoneal lining, to create a pathway to the underlying surgical site. Generally, the trocar includes a stylet or obturator having a sharp tip for penetrating the body cavity, which is positioned coaxially within an outer cannula. The obturator is removed, leaving the outer cannula in place for reception of instrumentation utilized to perform the surgical procedure. An example of a known trocar is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,266 to Stellon, which issued Nov. 21, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. However, with known trocars, advancement of the obturator through tissue is typically performed blind, i.e., without visualization of the tissue being entered. Obturators allowing visualization include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,334,150, 5,431,151 and 5,441,041.
Accordingly, the present disclosure provides an optical access assembly which permits direct visualization of body tissue during penetration of the body cavity. Moreover, the optical access assembly of the present disclosure provides an improved structure for direct visualization of the body tissue being penetrated and serves as a conduit for subsequent introduction of surgical instrumentation required for performance of the surgical procedure.